Great idea. Does it work as a VPN? I always run into the problems with those: 1. You can only run one VPN at a time 2. My banking apps detect when there's a VPN active and won't run
No need for a VPN, it uses the Android Accessibility Service
Show HN: I built an app to block Shorts and Reels
141–150 of 322 posts
Re: Show HN: I built an app to block Shorts and Reels
#142I would love it. I'm currently using DFInstagram, which removes home feed. Only downside I see is that is also removes Instagram stories which I do like to check, but I can do that from PC if I want. As for YouTube I can already remove 99% of the distraction by just putting things to private and completely remove recommendations on home page, but reddit / Twitter / Facebook would be great. For the social medias I'd l…
I also use DFInstagram. You can keep stories; I have mine configured to kill the feed & cancerous search page grid but allow me to see stories. Works great.
Re: Show HN: I built an app to block Shorts and Reels
#143This is one of those things that should be unnecessary if we all had perfect self-control, but the reality is these apps are engineered explicitly to bypass that. It feels a bit silly to need guardrails for something as trivial as scrolling. Shameless personal plug: I wrote about it here. https://nabraj.com/blog/swipe-scroll-repeat-addiction/
It'd be a lot easier if the companies behind these products gave users (paid or otherwise) literally any mechanism to opt-out. It drives me mad that YouTube provides a "not interested" button, but refuses to respect my explicit wishes, even as a YouTube Premium subscriber. It wouldn't even be quite so bad if they just didn't bother to ask, at least then I could imagine that such a mechanism would be too complicated or something, but they bother to ask--and then they comply for the remainder of my session. Just make it permanent, you absolute ghouls.
Re: Show HN: I built an app to block Shorts and Reels
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
would also be unnecessary if these apps respected the user rather than trying to addict them
Hard to exercise willpower when the whole system is tuned up against it.
I've tried hard to keep that garbage out of my sight for years.
But dammit YouTube is my one vice. And then they throw those damn shorts on it, I can feel my attention span decreasing.
Seems every product just descends into this anti-human shitscape.
Re: Show HN: I built an app to block Shorts and Reels
#145This is one of those things that should be unnecessary if we all had perfect self-control, but the reality is these apps are engineered explicitly to bypass that. It feels a bit silly to need guardrails for something as trivial as scrolling. Shameless personal plug: I wrote about it here. https://nabraj.com/blog/swipe-scroll-repeat-addiction/
I had an epiphany that faulting myself, and my self-control, is exactly what these sites want you to do. "Oh, it's just your bad self-discipline"
No, this is full-on war for control of your mind. And the adversary spends millions to hire teams of the world's best psychologists and engineers to deploy technology that never sleeps with the sole purpose of grabbing and keeping your attention.
Once I realized this, I started treating doomscrolling and Youtube rabbit holes not as personal insufficiencies, but as systemic failures in my psychological defense system. I started installing my own tech to keep me safe, and I am much, much happier.
Predictably, companies like Google try to disable the defenses (e.g. with Manifest v3, which was a garbage excuse to disable many defensive extensions). And so the war goes.
Re: Show HN: I built an app to block Shorts and Reels
#146This is one of those things that should be unnecessary if we all had perfect self-control, but the reality is these apps are engineered explicitly to bypass that. It feels a bit silly to need guardrails for something as trivial as scrolling. Shameless personal plug: I wrote about it here. https://nabraj.com/blog/swipe-scroll-repeat-addiction/
A very effective partial solution - there is absolutely 0 reason to have any meta app cancers on phones/tablets. Just let them go, leave them for laptop/desktop and you are more than 50% there. This way they lose a lot of their instant addictivity. Same goes for tiktok and similar other shit forming and then feeding on addictions. Everything becomes much easier afterwards, especially long term. I removed FB apps quit…
I've started dedicating Chrome profiles for the rare occasion I have to subject myself to Facebook (marketplace mostly).
There you go Meta, you can enjoy the 4 times a year I use your site (and no others).
No doubt they'll track me via many other means that ought to be illegal, but it feels like a good start.
Re: Show HN: I built an app to block Shorts and Reels
#147This is one of those things that should be unnecessary if we all had perfect self-control, but the reality is these apps are engineered explicitly to bypass that. It feels a bit silly to need guardrails for something as trivial as scrolling. Shameless personal plug: I wrote about it here. https://nabraj.com/blog/swipe-scroll-repeat-addiction/
One thing I think a lot of people need to realize and ponder on more... is that these companies have nearly infinite resources, they have entire teams studying the psychology of how to get you to use their apps more (because they primarily chase engagement to sell your attention to advertisers). Not only do they have well-paid experts working on getting you using their platform more often and for longer, but they als…
100% agreed. I got my undergraduate degree in Media Studies, and one of things I learned was how intentional even the smallest details are in major productions. They spend millions of dollars, and employ full-time specialists for things like wardrobe and makeup, and those are skilled professionals whose job is to convey a narrative through their specific medium (in this case, wardrobe and makeup).
The same applies when you get to the elite levels of any kind of endeavor--they have long since consumed all of the proverbial low-lying fruit, and so they pay skilled professionals a ton of money to carve out marginal advantages. No presumption of intentional action is too paranoid or unreasonable when you get to this point. Assume every word, comma, image, sound, etc. has been carefully chosen for maximal impact, conscious or otherwise.
Re: Show HN: I built an app to block Shorts and Reels
#148I am an iOS user and I really need this. I love the Youtube App, but I can't stand having it auto open to shorts... They are truly mining my brain through this action.
Re: Show HN: I built an app to block Shorts and Reels
#149The problem I have had with this type of app is that, on Instagram at least any video that a friend posts is considered a reel. And I want to watch videos that my friends post. What I don't want is swiping mindlessly through random videos. So really I would like a swipe blocker not a short video blocker. (And bonus points if I could make it work on Firefox)
Re: Show HN: I built an app to block Shorts and Reels
#150This is one of those things that should be unnecessary if we all had perfect self-control, but the reality is these apps are engineered explicitly to bypass that. It feels a bit silly to need guardrails for something as trivial as scrolling. Shameless personal plug: I wrote about it here. https://nabraj.com/blog/swipe-scroll-repeat-addiction/
It's also not some "oopsie". It's almost certainly not news but these sites want these 'one more' behaviors. Years ago, I designed a minimalist YouTube player that removed video suggestions and autoplays but used their player, didn't evade ads, etc. I got banned by Google because they disallow any alternative site for YouTube, only embeds are allowed. Pretty sure I am still banned on all Google APIs too.
In case you want that same functionality now, I use the following three extensions to tame Youtube dark patterns:
- https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/df-utube-distractio...
- https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/clickbait-remover-f...
- https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/blocktube/bbeaicapb...